Car-door structure



April 30, 1929. K. EDAHL CAR DOOR STRUCTURE 1V 2 Sheets-Shebt Filed July 7, 1927 'INVEZNTOE April 30, 1929. K. EDAHL CAR DOOR STRUCTURE File J ly 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet lmvaN-rove EJA.

KNUTE 50am.

Patented Apr. 30, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,711,1"42 PATENT OFFICE.

KNUTE EDAHL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CAMEL COMYANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

GAR-DOOR STRUOTURE.

Application filed July 7,

The present invention relates to car door structure.

More particularly the present invention relates to the side doors of railway housecars and has for one of its objects the provision of means for taking the weight of a sliding door off the bearings of said doocwhen said door is in a predetermined position, as for instance, the fully closed position of said door.

A further object is to provide a car door structure of the kind immediately above referred to, which has the advantage that the free sliding of the door is not interfered with except when the door is at or approaching the predetermined position referred to.

A further object is to provide a structure for taking the weight of a freight car door off its bearings, which structure is combmed with the door guides.

Further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a fragmentary view of the mam and supplementary door of an automobile car, which doors have applied thereto embodiments of the present invention; L

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the plane indicated by the arrows 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the plane indicated by the arrows 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figures 4 and 5 are views on an enlarged scale of parts of the structure shown in F igure 1;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view lllllS- trating a top hung door embodying the prinand-supplementary doors of an automobile car, it will be clear'that the invention is not limited'to this type of car, but applies to other sliding doors as well.

The numeral 10 indicates the main door and the numeral 11 indicates the auxiliary or supplementary door of a car, the supplementary door being provided with the movable door jamb 12. As shown in Figure 1,

the doors 10 and 11 are bottom supported, which is to say that said doors have a bearing 1927. Serial No. 203,959.

upon a track at the bottom of said doors, said bearing being had by means of roller bearings indicated by the numerals 13-13, said roller bearings being located adjacent to the front and rear-edges of said doors.

The track for supporting the roller bearings 13-13 is indicated by the numeral 14. Said bearings 13 are disposed within brackets 15, which may be riveted or otherwise secured to the material of the door upon which they are mounted. Any preferred means, which need not be described herein, may be utilized to maintain the door in its proper plane in a direction transversely of the car.

According to the present invention, means are provided for lifting the doors off the roller bearings 13 when. the doors are in predetermined positions, which are the closed positions of said doors in the illustrated emof which has the upwardly presented cam surface 19. The brackets 16 and-18 are so disposed that the cam surfaces thereof engage when the corresponding door is in home or closed position. By reason of the cam shapes of the mutually engaging surfaces of the brackets 16 and 18, the doors will be lifted as they approach home position, whereby the weight of the door will be removed from the bearings.

The brackets 16 and 18 should be so disposed that when the bracket 16 on the front edge of the door moves to a position above the bracket 18 at the rear edge of the doorway, said brackets should not engage with one another. For this purpose the bracket 18 at the front edge of the doorway should have the uppermost part of its cam surface at a higher Ill door and bracket 18 at the rear edge of said.

doorway, and to preclude operative relationship between the bracket 16 at the front edge of the door and the bracket 18 at the rear edge of said brackets is provided with an upwardly presented cam surface 21 adapted to cooperate with the cam surfacejl'? of each correspending bracket 16 mounted upon the door. The uppermost parts of the cam surfaces 2121 of the two brackets 20 at the front and rear edges of the doorway should be at different levels, the uppermost portion of the cam surface 21 of the bracket at the front edge of the door being at a higher level than the uppermost portion of the cam surface 21 of the bracket at the rear edge of the doorway. The reason for this difference in levels will be clear from'the discussion above in connection with Figures 1 to 5.

It will be clear that once the brackets 16-16 on the door have been freed from the corresponding brackets upon the body of the car, the door may roll upon its bearings without interference between said brackets. Only when the door is moved to home position do the brackets upon the door engage with the brackets upon the car body. Any preferred door opening and closing means may be utilized to move the door when the brackets referred to are in cooperative relationship with one another.

Though certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, many modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. It is intended to cover all such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is- 1. In combination, a car body, a sliding door therefor, bearings for said door, brackets upon said door adjacent to the front and rear edges of said door, and brackets upon said car body adjacent to the front and rear edges of the doorway controlled by said door, the brackets upon said door being adapted to engage the brackets upon said car body to lift said door from its bearings when said door is in a predetermined position, the uppermost level of the cooperating surfaces of said brackets at the front edge of said doorway being higher than the uppermost level of the cooperating surfaces of said brackets at the rear edge of said doorway.

2. In combination, a car body, a top hung sliding door for said car body, brackets carried by said car body for guiding the lower edge of said door, and brackets upon said door adapted to have cooperative relationship with said first mentioned brackets for lifting said door from its bearings when said door is in a predetermined position, the brackets upon said car body being disposed adjacent to the front and rear edges of the doorway controlled by said door, the uppermost part of the cooperating engaging surfaces of said brackets being higher at the front erlgeof said doorway than at the rear edge thereof.

3. In combination, relatively stationary means providing a doorway, a sliding door therefor, bearings for said door, cam means upon said relatively stationary means, said cam means being located adjacent to the front and rear edges of said doorway, cam means upon said door adjacent to the front and rear edges of said door, the cam means upon said door being adapted to engage the cam means upon said relatively stationary means to lift said door from said bearings when said door is in a predetermined position, the uppermost level of the cam surface of the cam means carried by said relatively stationary means at the front edge of said doorway being at a higher level than the uppermost level of the cam surface of the cam means carried by said relatively stationary means at the rear edge of said doorway.

4. In combination, relatively stationary means providing a doorway, a top hung sliding door for said doorway, cam means carried by said relatively stationary means adjacent to the front and rear edges of said doorway, cam means carried by said door adjacent to the front and rear edges of said door, said cam means upon said door being adapted to have cooperative relationship with said cam means upon said relatively stationary means for lifting said door from its bearings when said door is in a predetermined position, the uppermost parts of the cooperating engaging surfaces-of said cam means being higher at the front edge of said doorway than at the rear edge thereof.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 1st day of July, 1927.

KNU'IE EDAHL. 

